Spending two weeks in Japan on the way home seemed like a great idea for us to get closer to our timezone and sleep schedule before getting back to work. It’ll be great in 2 weeks, but right now we feel very much like the zombie.

Staying awake with our luggage in lockers while waiting for our apartment to be ready was a fun time. We were in the middle of Osaka, sun beating down, with nowhere to rest. We eventually found comfort in a huge shopping tower thay included a Coca Cola happiness lab and an enormous Muji that took up almost an entire floor.

We did well to stay awake and spent the evening exploring Nakazakicho, our home for the next few nights. Marthese has done a great job this trip finding Airbnb accommodation in funky areas, and this is no exception. While a seemingly standard Japanese city on the surface, travel down one of Nakazicho’s side alleys and you’ll discover a great little bar, a funky Cafe or an adorable dog enticing you to enter some ambiguous establishment. The shopping arcades are seemingly endless and totally full of character. Our poor mobile photos don’t do it justice. We had a surprisingly good Italian dinner and then a few Japanese whiskeys at a tiny whiskey bar near our house for a nightcap. We already love Osaka.

Marthese started the second day with a Zumba class which was led by our Airbnb host. It’s day two, and we’re still adjusting to the time difference, but we’re getting there.

Sinshaibashi was our first stop, with its towering department stores and long shopping arcades. The day got up to 30 degrees so thankfully much of our day was indoors. Lovely lunch at a noodle house after losing Marthese in a 5 level Uni Qlo. The Tokyu Hands department store never disappoints and today we actually bought things! We next found ourselves in Amerikamura, a funky district with great second hand clothes and record stores.

Next stop on the shopping trip was Den Den Town, the nerd district of Osaka, and the return to my spiritual home, Super Potato. Tez and I split up for a while as we explored seperately, me the nerd world and Marthese some department stores. But we reunited for an extremely successful dinner of Okonomiyaki (a big Japanese omelette/pancake and one of my favourite dishes of this whole trip so far) at a lovely little restaurant, sitting at a bar right in front of the chef,  in a side alley off bustling Dotonbori. While we escaped the bustle during dinner, we rejoined it to see fancy Dotonbori lit up as the sun went down.

Next, Marthese humoured my fancies to a whole new level. We kept exploring the fascinating streets of Shinsaibashi, but also dropped into two gaming themed bars, where I showed her the roots of console gaming on the Atari 2600, dazzled her with my amazing Bloodborne skills on the PS4, and finally wore her down enough that she joined me in a game of Mario Kart over our night’s last drink. (For those interested, the bars were Vido Game Bar Space Station and Game Bar Continue, both within a 15 minute walk of each other and both allowing you play video games from multiple eras to your hearts content.)

We’re still awake but ready for bed – I reckon we might have kicked the jet lag! Also, please forgive any ramblings. The beer here is delicious.